I Really Like You
by Cyberina
Summary: Set right after the fight with the Red Death. Astrid confesses a little something to Hiccup. HICCSTRID! Oneshot...


**A/N: This is just a cute little one-shot that has been troubling me for a while. **

**Hiccstrid alert!**

**So…yeah. This is set, right at the time, when Hiccup and Toothless are battling the Red death, and Toothless' tail is burning of and….just read it!**

**Please, people, don't mind my typos, grammatical errors and any stupidity in my stories.**

**Okay then…ON WITH THE STORY!**

…**.**

"Okay buddy, almost there, just a little more longer." Hiccup said soothingly to the agitated night fury.

They dodged the flames that the red death crazily blew around, and when it ceased fire breathing, the Dynamic Duo circled around the giant dragon, as its hideous face came into view and all of its eyes looked menacingly at them, as they waited for its next blast of fire.

"Wait for it, wait for it…" Hiccup said impatiently, "NOW! Toothless, fire!"

The gas formed at the back of the throat of the Red Death, and before it could spew it out, toothless blew his own little plasma blast, igniting the gas as the Red Death slowly began burning to its own death.

It lifted its wings, which was beginning to incinerate into nothingness, as the rare dragon came crashing down, in a huge cloud of heat and ashes.

But that was the least of the pair's worries, when Hiccup glanced back, Toothless' tail was slowly burning away as well.

Toothless flapped his wings harder, skillfully dodging the scales on the bigger dragons back, and Toothless' tail was nearly gone, but they won't give in that easily. With Hiccups help, Toothless flew harder, faster and when they reached the end of their obstacle course, Toothless let out a shrill happy cry, not noticing the Red Death's bludgeon like tail come in their way to freedom.

"No, no, no!" Hiccup cried out, and tried to harness Toothless, but it was too late, as the dragon and its rider both hit the tail, and Hiccup toppled off the saddle, anything but conscious. Toothless, cared too much to just let Hiccup die like that, so he shot after him, successfully grabbing him in his pudgy legs, and wrapping his dark wings around him like a protective blanket, as they both fell like a whizzing bullet to the cold, unforgiving, ground.

Something sank in Astrid's heart, when she saw the couple fall into the hellhole. She screamed out loud, and ran forward, only to be stopped by one of the Vikings, as she saw Stoick run forward his eyes sweeping the battlefield for any sign of his son.

As the mist cleared, Stoick was seen running wildly, calling for his one and only son, whom he had maybe lost today.

"Hiccup? Hiccup!" Stoick called out for his son, no longer a commanding chief, but now a worried father.

He heard a moan in the distance, and he made a beeline for that place, as he caught sight of a black bundle lying in the distance.

"Hiccup…" Stoick said finally, his eyes closing in disappointment, when he did not see his son with the dragon.

Toothless let out another pained moan, and turned on his side.

"I'm so sorry son." The chieftain of Berk now knelt broken hearted in front of a creature they hunted for years.

Astrid pushed violently through the crowd, as she emerged from the sea of people. When she saw the scene unfold in front of her, she felt something within her break, and for the first time in many years, she let tears overwhelm her vision, the unfamiliar feeling of prickling in her nostrils, made her feel weak and vulnerable.

The few words Stoick had said, was enough to give Toothless an idea of what everyone was thinking. With another moan, Toothless opened up his wings to reveal a small, frail figure held securely in his paws.

"Hiccup!" Stoick said his name for the fourth time in that hour, and retrieved his son from the beasts legs, as he wrenched his helmet off, and put an ear to Hiccup's chest, to hear soft, faint thumping echo from with.

"He's alive… He's alive!" Stoick declared as all the Vikings, even the dragons cheered.

But for Astrid, words were not enough to express her happiness. She just stood there, hands held to her mouth, heart thumping faster, as she was weak at the knees. Tears were streaming down her face, but this time, it was tears of mirth.

"You brought him back alive!" Stoick could no longer contain himself.

"Thank you." Stoick felt awkward thanking the creature which was wanted by all Vikings lived, but there was a glimmer of gratefulness in his eyes, as he placed a gentle hand on Toothless' muzzle as the small dragon closed his eyes and gently bowed his head.

"Well, you know, most of him." Gobber said mysteriously.

…..

After the whole escapade, Hiccup was taken to Gothi's abode to be checked and treated.

Turns out that one of Hiccup's legs was too badly mangled and twisted to be healed, and if not removed, it could begin an infection.

Gothi had suggested getting his leg amputated, Stoick was allusive at first, but he knew that Hiccup's life was more precious than one leg. Gobber has lost an arm and a leg, yet he did not complain, so Hiccup will surely understand. At least, Stoick was hoping so.

Soon, the news of Hiccup's operation spread like wildfire around Berk, and when Astrid heard about it, she could not help visiting Hiccup, very often, but every time, he was asleep, or unconscious.

When the night of the operation arrived, Astrid hid behind some trees, and staying hidden under the cover of darkness, she quietly watched what would happen.

She just sat there for around 10-20 minutes, to her it was an eternity.

When midnight dawned upon the island, the lights in Gothi's hut flicked on, and Astrid became automatically attentive.

Nothing really happened for a long time, and when Astrid was deciding to go home, she heard a long pained shriek cut through the air.

It was Hiccup's scream.

Astrid clenched a hand over her mouth, and hightailed it back to her home, as she crawled under the covers, and tried not to think about what Hiccup was going through.

The scream kept repeating itself in her head.

"Hiccup never screamed." She whispered absent-mindedly, in half-sleep.

…

The next day, Astrid finally gathered her guts, and decided to go visit Hiccup, but she was pretty much sure he was still asleep. She would not disturb him, she pledged to herself.

When she reached Gothi's place, she told her that they had taken Hiccup back to his home, with Stoick. She rushed there, and pounded hard on the door.

Stoick opened up, and was a little surprised to see her on his doorstep.

"Here to meet Hiccup I see." He said, putting her thoughts into words.

"Erm..yes sir." Astrid did not have even a slight idea why she was so unsure about herself.

"Well, you are in time, he awake you know. Yes, maybe half-asleep, but he still responds to whatever you say." Stoick said, as Astrid, suddenly barged into his home, and then suddenly stopped, she was going to climb up the stairs.

"Go on, young lady, I am not stopping you." Stoick said reassuringly, as Astrid ran up the stairs and dashed into Hiccups small room.

"Hiccup?" She said quietly, in case he fell into dream world again.

"Who's there?" an annoyed voice rang out in the room, taking Astrid aback.

"It's me. I wanted to know if you are alright." She said, choosing her words carefully.

"Astrid?!" Hiccup seemed pleasantly surprised. "I was sort of expecting you."

He was apparently, fully awake and his eyes were twinkling with happiness at the sight of Astrid there.

"You were?" Astrid was skeptical. She moved to his bedside, and pulled over a small stool to sit on.

Hiccup began to move his blankets away, but Astrid jumped forward and held his hand gently, but firmly.

"Don't." she said simply. " Why?" Hiccup asked her a bit drowsily.

"Your leg…" she trailed off, fear and confusion obvious on her face.

"Oh…that. I know, Astrid." He replied calmly.

"Ok…sorry then. I did not want to give you a shock about it." Astrid now felt like an idiot for being so overprotective. He was just a friend after all.

Then they just stayed like that, looking at each other, then the floor, at each other, then the floor…

"Um… Astrid, you could let go of my hand now."

Astrid did not even realize she was slowly interlacing her fingers with his.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" she jumped as she said this. But Hiccup simply smiled at her reaction.

There was this question, troubling Hiccup for a lot of time, and he just wanted to know, he had no idea why…

"Astrid, back there, what did you see?"

"Back where?" Astrid was clueless.

"The fight with the Red Death." He said quietly, wondering if it was alright to ask.

Astrid's face fell, and she suddenly found the floor interesting, but she would not look at the injured lad in the bed.

"Astrid, why won't you look at me?" Hiccup asked, a little scared.

Astrid raised her eyes to his level and decided to just say it all out loud.

Suddenly, he saw her eyes fill up, and that kind of surprised and scared Hiccup at the same time. Astrid never cried, what happened to suddenly compel her to?

"I-I just s-saw you and t-t-toothless fall into t-that huge cloud of f-f-fire and nothing else." She was stammering crazily, and it her feel stupid.

"Oh, then why are you crying?" Hiccup's curiosity never died.

"I thought you died!" Astrid kind of screamed."I thought I…we lost you."

Hiccup looked at her, as her tears got caught between her lashes.

"Why were you afraid to 'lose' me? Specifically you? If I remember correctly…you used to hate me."Hiccup declared.

"NO! D-don't say that hiccup, I don't hate you. Not anymore at least." Astrid said, wiping away her tears.

Hiccup was filled with happiness at her words. He smiled softly, and reached for her hand, and held it firmly.

"I really like you Hiccup."

"I really like you too Astrid."

….

**A/N: There you go!**

**Short and sweet.**

**Tell me what you think!**


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